Plastic Girls — Glamour, Aggression, and Display (1980–1997)
A shared escalation toward excess, beyond style, geography, or chronology.
This chapter documents the moment when artificial femininity becomes overtly cosmetic, sexualized, and confrontational. Across different countries and contexts, mannequins adopt exaggerated makeup, exposed poses, and aggressive gazes, turning the female face and body into surfaces of visual pressure rather than neutral display. What unites these images is not style, geography, or chronology, but a shared escalation toward excess as a dominant mode of representation.
Photographed from the street, without access or intervention, these images record what shop windows openly displayed at the time. Seen together, they show how exaggerated cosmetics, exposed poses, and confrontational gazes accumulated across different contexts, forming a shared visual condition rather than isolated stylistic choices.
These photographs belong to “Plastic Girls: 50 Years of Artificial Beauty”, a long-term photographic project developed over nearly five decades, in which shop windows are approached as a continuous site of cultural observation.
May 1980.
San Sebastian, Spain.
Polished facial surfaces, refined color accents, and controlled expression define a moment of composure rather than excess. The mannequin presents femininity as stylized elegance, where cosmetics signal aspiration but remain carefully contained.
May 1980.
San Sebastian, Spain.
Naturalistic posture and coordinated styling suggest ease and approachability rather than confrontation. At this stage, display favors balance and coherence, with realism serving persuasion without yet turning aggressive.
August 1986.
Copenhagen, Denmark.
Fixed smile, exposed teeth, and dark lenses produce a hypnotic and surreal effect, holding the viewer’s attention while withholding emotional response.
August 1986.
Copenhagen, Denmark — Graziano Boutique.
Cosmetics, costume, and posture collapse into a single surface of exposure.
Here, realism is pushed toward theatrical excess, reflecting a broader mid-1980s Scandinavian shift toward confrontational display, where mannequins abandon neutrality and assert presence through visual aggression.
August 1986.
Copenhagen, Denmark — Annabell Boutique
Aggression becomes fully articulated.
Makeup, gesture, and facial tension no longer simulate life but enforce confrontation, confirming a local display language where artificial bodies are designed to provoke, not attract, and excess replaces illusion as the dominant strategy.
Spain (1997) — Glamorous Brides
Ritual, spectacle, and artificial femininity in Andalusian display culture.
Within this broader escalation, bridal mannequins occupy a specific role. Ritual costume does not temper display, but intensifies it. Lace, veils, makeup, and carefully staged expressions turn the bridal figure into a concentrated surface of glamour, where idealization slips into exposure and display becomes explicit.
March 1997.
Sevilla, Spain — Feria de Abril.
Exaggerated cosmetics, widened eyes, and parted lips push the bridal face into overt display. Femininity is no longer idealized but performed, with seduction staged directly through surface, color, and expression.
March 1997.
Sevilla, Spain — Feria de Abril.
Heavy makeup and sculpted features intensify the bridal figure beyond ceremony. Here, glamour operates as pressure, transforming the ritual costume into a vehicle for visual exposure rather than restraint.
March 1997.
Sevilla, Spain — Feria de Abril.
This mannequin adopts a more overtly charged presence. Intensified makeup, exaggerated lashes, and saturated color push the face toward theatrical allure. Artificial femininity is openly staged here, shifting from bridal idealization to direct visual seduction.
March 1997.
Sevilla, Spain — Feria de Abril.
The mannequin’s face is modeled with extreme smoothness and precision: porcelain skin, sharply defined lips, and a distant upward gaze. The bridal figure is isolated as a sculpted surface of desire, where makeup, hair, and veil function as visual intensifiers rather than cultural markers.
Copyright and credits
Photographs by Roberto Bigano.
All the images in this post are copyrighted.
Tutte le immagini di questo post sono coperte da copyright.
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